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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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The IjisTORicaL posmoM 

OF 

The ^PiscopaL (^hurch 



FRHNCIS 3. TjBhh 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION 



OF 



The Episcopal Chuech. 



U paper 



Rev. Francis J. Hall, M.A., 



READ BY TJ 




INSTRUCTOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE WESTERN THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY, CHICAGO, 
BEFORE THE 

CHURCH HISTORY CLUB OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL (BAPTIST), 
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, DECEMBER 11, 
1894; AND BEFORE THE CHICAGO CLERICUS 
(EPISCOPAL), DECEMBER 17, 1894. 



Published under the Auspices of the ( 



Chicago Cleeicus. 




MILWAUKEE, WIS.: 
THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO. 
1895. 



T88 Library 

OP OWGRBSS 
WASHINGTON 



Copyright Secured by the Author. 



Dedicated, by Permission, 

TO THE 

Rev. Eei B. Hulbert, D.D., 
Dean of the Divinitt School of the University 
OF Chicago, whose 

COURTESY, HEREBY SHOWN, IS THE MORE 
NOTEWORTHY BY REASON 
OF THE 

DIFFERENCES OF CONVICTION 
BETWEEN US. 



WHAT DOES THE EPISCOPAL CHUKCH 
CLAIM TO STAND FOR IIST HISTORY ? 



It is with heartfelt pleasure that I accept 
the courteous invitation which you have given 
me to read a paper before this Club, and I 
appreciate your kindness the more because I 
understand that you expect me to address you 
from the point of view of an Episcopalian. 
It is not to be expected that a Olub like this 
will agree with all the beliefs which are likely 
to be propounded by one who speaks from 
such a point of view. 

Yet, if I rightly understand your invitation, 
I am expected to speak with entire candour. 
Gentlemen, I appreciate your kindness and 
accept your invitation in good faith. I shall, 
therefore, not shrink from plain speech, even 
when touching upon the things wherein we 
differ, although, in speaking plainly, I trust 
that I shall not abuse your kindness by any 
manner of utterance inconsistent with the 
Christian duty of speaking the truth in love. 
The truth, my friends, is sacred — not less so 



6 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



when ascertained than when still being sought 
after — and should enslave our hearts, and 
minds, and tongues. Truth is mighty and, in 
the end, will prevail; so that, if we would 
think to some purpose, and contribute to the 
permanent advance of spiritual intelligence 
and life, we must conform our' thoughts and 
language to the truth, as such. Moreover, the 
principle of love to which I have referred 
requires not only that we should conform to 
the truth when we speak, but that we should 
speak — openly and persistently — in the pres- 
ence of those who are still lacking such truth 
as we have learned, until it has become the 
common possession of mankind. I am sure 
that you agree with me here, and that you 
expect me to conform my utterances to what I, 
an Episcopalian, am convinced to be the truth, 
without reserve or fear of causing oflPence. 

I purpose this evening to answer, as well as 
I can, this question: What does the Episcopal 
Church claim to stand for in history? 

My aim is chiefly expository, and I shall 
endeavour to avoid a polemical tone; although 
I cannot promise to assume the indifferent tone 
of one who has no interest in the questions at 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 7 



issue. I am sure you do not expect this. I 
shall deal with arguments, but in their histori- 
cal aspects, and for the purpose of exhibiting 
more clearly the nature of the Episcopal posi- 
tion, and of obviating certain misapprehen- 
sions concerning it. 

To enter at once in medias res, The Episco- 
pal Church claims to stand in history for three 
things: (a) for the original of the Christian 
religion; (6) for that which it has, as a matter 
of history, received in trust, and therefore may 
not lawfully compromise or surrender; (c) for 
the only possible basis of Church Unity. 

I. 

In the first place, then, the Episcopal Church 
claims to stand for the original of the Chris- 
tian Religion. 

The true idea of religion, as it appears in 
history — and Sacred History is none the less 
history, because it is given chiefly in the Bible 
— is that of a bond or covenant between God 
and man ; along with whatever pertains to such 
a covenant, of truth, institutions and life. It 
is thus, I am sure, that Sacred as well as Eccle- 



8 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



siastical history exhibits religion to us. The 
Greek word diaBr/m], which is usually translated 
testament, is more accurately translated cove- 
nant; and the entire Bible is concerned with 
the Old Covenant or Hebrew Religion, and the 
New Covenant or Christian Religion. This 
does not mean that these two are different 
religions, but that they are two dispensations 
of one and the same religion, which are neces- 
sarily in harmony with each other and governed 
in common by certain principles which are 
permanent and unalterable, since they proceed 
from one God, with Whom is no variableness 
neither shadow of turning^ The law is a 
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ^; and, as 
S. Augustine said long ago, the New Testa- 
ment is latent in the Old, and the Old is un- 
veiled Id the Newl It is, therefore, a mistake 
to oppose one dispensation to the other, for 
they are but successive Divine arrangements 
in one covenant of promise made of old with 
the patriarchs. The Christian dispensation is 
indeed more spiritual, but this does not mean 
that the old religion has been revolutionized, 
so as to become indeterminate, unrecognizable 

1. S. Jas. 1. 17. 2. Gal. III. 24. 3. Quest, in Ex. Q. 73. 



THE EPISCOPAL GHXIRGE. 9 



and without visible ministries or means of open 
maintenance before the world and of corporate 
life. It means rather that the inner and spir- 
itual significance of God's covenant has been 
unveiled in its fulfilment by Christ; and that, 
in consequence of Christ's work and ordinance, 
the ancient forms, which were without power\ 
have been reconstituted and given spiritual 
efficacy and world-wide application. The re- 
ligion of Christ is the religion of Abraham 
and of Moses; and, like its Author, is the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever^ 

If this original and everlasting religion of 
God is to be identified, it must be by means of 
such characteristics as were of Divine origin in 
the beginning, and which have been permanent, 
being provided for by God in every successive 
dispensation. I think that three such charac- 
teristics can be distinguished historically with- 
out difiiculty. I will try to exhibit them in due 
order. 

(a) The first of them, appearing in both the 
Hebrew and Christian dispensations, and, there- 
fore, characterizing the original Christian relig- 

1. Heb. VIIT. 7-13: X. 1,11. 

2. Heb. XIII. 8. 



10 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



ion, is the existence of one visible organism} or 
chosen people, with whom the Covenant is 
made, and which possesses a determinate organ- 
ization or Ministry of Divine origin, ordained 
for the publication and continual maintenance 
of the Covenant. 

The subject of tlie Divine covenants is 
referred to in a multitude of passages in both 
portions of Holy Scripture, but nowhere do we 
find that the human oartv thereto is an indi- 
vidual soul as such. The Hebrew Covenant 
was made with Abraham and his seed forever^ 
— not with Abraham in isolation from his seed 
— and the New Covenant is but a continuation 
of the Old in a more effectual and Catholic dis- 
pensationl The human party to the covenant 
is still the seed of Abraham, but a sacramental 
seed, buried by Baptism in Christ, Who is at 
once the seed of Abraham and the Son of God, 
the one Mediator between God and man^ The 
seed which was Jewish and had Circumcision 
for its sign, becomes Christian (without loss of 

1. See App. 1. 

2. Gen. XVII, 7; S. Luke I. 55. 

3. Gen. XXIII. 18; Isaiah LIV.1-3; LVI.3-7; Jerem. XXXI. 31-34; 
Mai. 1. 11. 

4. Gal. III. IG, 27-29; S. Luke III. 8; I. Tim. II. 5. 



THE EPISCOPAL OHUHGH. 



11 



continuity) and has Baptism for its sign\ The 
original chosen people is merged into the 
Christian Church ; which is the Body of Christ^, 
and to which all individual souls are added 
daily by Baptism who are being saved by God . 
In short the ancient Covenant has now for its 
human party the Church of Christ, and for its 
covenanted beneficiaries all those who are bap- 
tized into that Church and conform therein to 
the terms of the Covenant. 

It might naturally have beeu anticipated that 
when God called His chosen and made them a 
peculiar people, He would ordain some visible 
organization of that people for the sure main- 
tenance of the Covenant and an abiding evidence 
of its continuance. The Episcopal Church con- 
tends that He did this; and we regard the pa- 
triarchal, the Aaronic, and the Episcopal Min- 
istries as the successive centres of the organi-- 
zations into which God Himself has moulded 
His chosen race. It was God who formed the 
earthly society with which He made His Cov- 
enant^; and therefore it was God who deter- 
mined for each successive dispensation in what 

1. Gen. XVII. 9-11; Heb.X. 16, 22. 2. Eplies.II.11-22. 

3. Ephes. I. 22, 23; V. 28-30; AclS XII. 27. 4. ActsII.47. 
5. Isaiah XLIII. l, 21 ; XLIV. 2; S. Matt. XVI. 18. 



12 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



manner and by what sort of Ministry it should 
perform the corporate terms of the Covenant. 
God has altered the form of this Ministry in 
each succeeding dispensation. But He has 
never surrendered the prerogative of making 
such alterations Himself^ 

Accordingly, our Lord Jesus Christ insti- 
tuted a perpetual Ministry for His church, 
which He built upon the Apostles and Prophets 
with Himself for its chief Corner Stone, to rest 
upon that foundation through all time^. And, 
as Clement of Rome says, writing four or five 
years before the death of S. John the Divine, 
"Our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus 
Christ that tlipre would be strife over the name 
of the Bishop's office. For this cause therefore, 
having received complete foreknowledge, they 
appointed the aforesaid persons, and afterward 
they provided a continuance, that if these should 
fall asleep, other approved men should succeed 
to their ministrationl" 

Examples of this action of the Apostles maybe 
seen in Timothy, appointed over the Church of 
Ephesus, and Titus, appointed over that of 

1. Heb. Vri. 11-28; Numb. XVI. 

2. S. Jolin XX. 21; Acts XII. 28; Ephes. 11,20-22; Heb. V.4. 

3. Clem, ad Cor. c. 44, Lightfoot's transl. 



THE EPISCOPAL GlIURGH. 



13 



Crete; and it is immaterial to our contention 
whether the first successors of the Apostles 
were called Bishops, or Presbyters, or both. 
What we claim is, that, in any case, the Apos- 
tolic Ministry was transmitted, and that no one 
can now exercise that ministry lawfully except 
those who have received the authority to do so 
by actual and unbroken transmission from the 
Apostles, who were originally appointed and 
ordained by Jesus Christ. This is the Apos- 
tolic Succession; and the phrase "Historic 
Episcopate" is used because we are sure that, 
as a matter of history, what is now called the 
Episcopate, and still possessed by three-fourths 
of the Christian world, is the identical Ministry 
which the Apostles ordained, in accordance 
with the Commission of Christ, to perpetuate 
their own Ministry, for the benefit of future 
generations, until the end of the world. 

I do not, of course, mean that all the powers 
of the Apostles were handed on, but the powers 
of the Ministry, of that Ministry which Christ 
promised to be with to the end of days, of 
which they were the first trustees. Their mi- 
raculous powers, as distinguished from those 
strictly Ministerial, were, of course, an accident 



14 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



of their time and of their unique work of laying 
foundations ; and it is worthy of note that such 
powers were not, as in case of their Ministerial 
ones, confined to those ordained to the Min- 
istry\ 

The limitations under which I speak forbid 
that I should exhibit in detail the large body 
of historical argument by which this position is 
sustained'"^. I must content myself with saying, 
first, that Ignatius of Antioch, writing, as 
Lightfoot contends, about ten years after the 
death of S. John^, identifies the successors of 
the Apostles with the Episcopoi then ruling the 
Church'^, and asse-rts that no ecclesiastical organ- 
ism was complete without theml No care- 
ful student will hesitate to agree that the 
order to which he referred under the name 
Episcopoi is historically one with that now 
called by the same name. Moreover, complete 
lists of the successors of the Apostles in cer- 
tain Apostolic sees, acknowledged in their day 
to be the Divinely ordained means by which the 
Apostolic Ministry was to be perpetuated, are 
preserved in the writings of S. Irenaeus and 

1. Acts XXI. 9; I Cor. XII. 28-30. 2. See App. I. 

.3. Apos. Fathers, Part II., Vol 1. 30. 4. AdPhilad. Introd., etc, 

5. AdTral. 3. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 15 



others^ It is easy to show historically that 
these lines are but the earlier tranks of the 
many branches of Episcopal succession, now 
existing throughout the Catholic Church. 
Finally it is a fact, clear to the most superficial 
student of Church history, that it was not the 
custom in the ages preceding the Reformation 
to confer Apostolic authority on any save those 
who were named Bishops. Therefore if there 
is an Apostolic succession such as I have 
defined, the Historic Episcopate alone possesses 
it. 

(h) A second original and permanent note 
of true religion is the possession by God's 
chosen people of a traditional body of truth, 
revealed by God and intrusted to its Ministry 
to be preserved from generation to generation, 
for the guidance of all who are called of God 
to share in the benefits of His Covenant. In 
ancient times God gave Israel a law which He 
commanded our spiritual " forefathers to teach 
their children, that their posterity might know 
it, and the children which were yet unborn, to 
the intent that when they came up, they might 

1. cf. Gore on the Ministry, cli. III. 



16 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



show their children the same\" And, in the 
fulness of time, our Lord fulfilled this law, 
revealed the principles of truth and righteous- 
ness which lay behind it, and commissioned 
His Apostles to disciple all nations, promising 
that He would be with them in this work until 
the end of the worlds and that the Holy Ghost 
should guide them into all truthl This prom- 
ise, because of its perpetual nature, applies to 
the successors of the Apostles. We are com- 
manded to hear the Church"^, and are told by 
S. Paul that the Church is the pillar and 
ground of the truths Against this Church 
the gates of hell are not to prevaiP, whatever 
individual unfaithfulness may be displayed at 
times hj some, or many, or even by a majority 
of its Ministers. 

It is not claimed that the earthly portion of 
the Catholic Church succeeds in making the 
Faith once for all delivered to the Saints so 
clear as to be unmistakable by any, nor that 

1. Psa. LXXVIII. 5-7. Prayer Book Version: cf. S. Matt. 
XXIII. 2, 3. 

2. S. Matt. XXVIIL 19, 20; X. 23. 

3. S. John XIV. 2G; XVI. 13, 14. 

4. S. Matt. X. 40; XVIII. 17 (cf. XXIIL 2. 3), 

5. I. Tim. III. 15. 

6. S. Matt. XVI. 18. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 17 



the Church can answer every speculative ques- 
tion which the progress of science may sug- 
gest. That would indeed be a claim both 
unhistoric and unreasonable. God nowhere 
on earth so unveils the truth that we may per- 
ceive its contents withoat effort or liability to 
err\ Certainly, if the doctrinal differences 
between Protestant denominations mean any- 
thing, He does not do this by means of the 
Bible only, in isolation from the Church whose 
Canon of Scripture it is. 

No, my friends, what we claim is, that God 
has, as a matter of history, made His Apostolic 
Church and Ministry the perpetual means of 
so preserving His saving truth in the world, 
that no one who fully conforms to the terms of 
the New Covenant as published and fulfilled by 
her — i e., gives implicit assent to those Creeds 
which have her undivided and corporate sanc- 
tion, devoutly studies the Bible which she 
furnishes as God's Word from her point of 
view, and heartily enters into the privileges of 
her sacramental life and environment — 'Can fail 
to attain to the knowledge of such truth as is 
needed for his advance in holiness and his 

1. I. Cor. XIII. 8-12, 



18 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



eternal glory hereafter. We claim further, 
that such security neither exists nor can exist 
elsewhere in the world. The One, Holy, Cath- 
olic and Apostolic Church, with its Divine and 
therefore unalterable Ministry, now called 
Episcopal, is the only thing on earth which 
Holy Scripture calls the pillar and ground of 
the truth, and which has Christ's solemn pledge 
of infallibility^ Individuals may err. Bishops 
may err, councils may err^; but, if they do, 
the abiding life and institutions oi the Church 
make it clear to the faithful, ere long, that 
such errors do not represent her mind. That 
mind is organic and can neither be altered nor 
permanently changed by majorities or passing 
schools of thought. 

I do not forget that I am concerned with 
what is historic rather than with what is theo- 
retical, and therefore call your attention to two 
significant facts, in order to make clear what I 
mean. The first of these is the fact that 
neither any individual nor any school of 
thought has ever changed or added to the 
faith of the Catholic Church. An Athanasius 

1. I, Tim. III. 15; S. Matt. XVI. 18. 

2. 39 Arts. XXI., Eug, Prayer Book. 



THE EPT8G0PAL GHURCH. 



19 



and a Cyril in the East, au Augustine and a 
Leo in the West, a Hooker and a Pusey in the 
Anglican Communion, may have done much to 
vindicate certain ancient doctrines. But no 
theologian or school has been able to impose 
new doctrines upon either of the portions of 
the Catholic Church which I have mentioned, 
or modify Catholic teaching. The Lutherans 
appeal to Luther and Melancthon, the Calvin- 
ists to John Calvin, the Methodists to John 
Wesley. We appeal simply to the Faith once 
for all delivered to the Saints, as contained in 
the Scriptures, summed up in the Creeds, and 
affirmed by the undisputed general councils^ 

The second fact is the unity of faith which has 
prevailed and continues to exist throughout the 
Catholic Church. The controversies which 
have separated the Greek, Latin, and Anglican 
communions for so many ages are indeed 
deplorable ; but their very seriousness is our 
reason for marvelling at the range of agree- 
ment in Faith, which has survived them all, 
and for believinof it to be suuerhuman. The 

O J. 

Greek regards the insertion of the filioqite into 
the Nicene Creed as unlawful, and misconceives 

J, Lambeth Conference, 1878, Introd. to Resolutions. 



20 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



its meaning; but the doctrine which that 
phrase is really designed to protect is held in 
the East as well as in the West. The Angli- 
can complains of the exaggerated claims of the 
Roman see, and of the modern theories and 
superstitious abuses which are cherished under 
the Eoman obedience; but he perceives with 
thankfulness that, however much the E-omanist 
may have surrounded it with inferior matter, 
he still cherishes in its fulness that original 
Faith which Anglicans cherish and for which the 
ancient martyrs died. Alienation exists, anath- 
emas have been pronounced — although the 
Anglican Communion has hurled none — fright- 
ful misconceptions prevail, the differences in 
circumstances are radical; yet, in every land 
and in every language. Catholic Christendom 
holds the same Faith, cherishes one sacra- 
mental system and one sacerdotal Ministry, 
approaches the Almighty with one liturgic 
service and unbloody Sacrifice, which is every- 
where the same in its constituent parts and 
meaning, whatever variations of phraseology 
may be employed. The sun sets not upon 
those who hold the Catholic Faith in its en- 
tirety. We believe that a unity like this, sur- 



THE EPISCOPAL GHUBCH. 21 



viving, as it has, tlie loss of cliarity, is beyond 
man's power of achievement; and that it is the 
fulfilment of Christ's promise to be with His 
Apostolic Ministry to the end of days. 

No such unity exists elsewhere, certainly 
not in the Protestant world. The Protestant 
denominations exchange polite speeches. There 
are Evangjelical Alliances, interchanges of pul- 
pits, Y. M. C. A.s, societies of Christian En- 
deavour, etc. But, with every effort to minimize 
differences, the Protestant world does differ 
radically as to those primary verities and min- 
istries of grace with which the Christian relig- 
ion began to be. It has been pointed out 
that each doctrine of the Faith once for all 
delivered is denied by some Protestant body, 
and that that thing which Protestants call 
"our common Christianity" is absolutely unde- 
finable — a vanishing point. Even what Mr. 
Gladstone has recently called the essence of 
Christianity — the doctrines of the Trinity and 
the Incarnation^ — is being dissolved in many di- 
rections under the miasmic influence of rational- 
ism, and a thinly disguised Pantheism, which 
can subscribe to Christian formularies in pagan 

1. Ninetenth Century, Aug. 1894. 



22 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



senses. The present Socinian body in England 
is the same with the original Presbyterian 
denomination in that country. Multitudes of 
Protestants are losing faith in the Old Testa- 
ment, especially in the presence of Higher 
Criticism, and few Protestants feel at home in 
the Old Testament or have any. large use for 
it\ "The down-grade of Protestantism" is 
too apparent to escape notice, as the late Mr. 
Spurgeon recognized to his grief. These facts 

— Catholic consent and disagreement else- 
where — convince us that what is nicknamed 
"ecclesiasticism," and misunderstood by many 
because of that misleading phrase, is the 
primary historical means whereby God wills to 
preserve His truth in the world and save the 
souls whom Christ has redeemed. 

(c) The third original and permanent char- 
acteristic of the Divine Covenants and of true 
religion is the maintenance among the chosen 
people of certain visible rites ordained of God^ 

— especially the rites of admission to the 
chosen people and Covenant, and those of cor- 
porate approach to God and communion with 
Him. 

1. See App. II. 2. See App. I. 



THE EPISCOPAL GHVRGH. 23 



Thus Circumcision aud Baptism are the 
respective rites by which God ordained that 
men should be admitted into the Jewish and 
Christian Covenants. They are for that reason 
correlative. This is shown conclusively in the 
Epistle to the Colossians, second chapter^ and 
the whole argument of the Epistle to the Gal- 
atians shows the same truth, in which the 
leading thought is that, whereas in the Old 
Covenant Circumcision was necesc^ary for initi- 
ation, "in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision 
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a 
new creature^" — a plain allusion to the new 
birth of water and of the Spirit, mentioned by 
Christ to Nicodemus as necessary for entrance 
into His Kingdom^ Circumcision signified 
those who were of Abraham's seed. Baptism 
makes us also of that seed by our putting on 
Christ*; and a new life is thus imparted to us 
which, if fostered, will finally abolish the whole 
body of sin. Thus the accompanying effects 
of Baptism exceed those of Circumcision, 
which was only a sign. Yet, while Baptism 
causes an internal and organic relation between 
the soul and Christ's body^, and is an instru- 

1. Col. II. 11, 12. 2. Gal. VI. 15. 

3. S. John 111. 5. 4. Gal. III. 24-29; Col. II. 11, 12. 

5. Eplies. V. 26.30. 



24 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



ment by meaDs of which the Holy Ghost puts 
us iu a state of grace and salvation and begins 
His sanctifyiug operations in us; it is neither 
the means nor the sign of completed salvation. 

Both rites, being initiatory, were ordained 
for children. Every Hebrew boy was circum- 
cised when eight days old, and Christ signifi- 
cantly declared concerning little children that 
of such — i. e., of such sources — is the Kingdom 
of Heaven. The idea that He meant that little 
children are members of the Kingdom of 
Heaven by nature is distinctly modern. 

The new Testament, when isolated from the 
historic institutions and usages of that King- 
dom of God which put it forth, and treated as 
if it were in itself a complete thesaurus of 
formulated answers to all religious questions, 
has of course a different meaning from what it 
has when regarded in its ancient light as the 
Church's Canon of Scripture, set forth by her 
as inspired by the same Spirit who was guiding 
her Apostolic Ministry into all truth, in order 
that it might strengthen the hold of the faith- 
ful upon that body of truth which they had 
received through her. 

When the Church began to settle her Canon, 



THE EPISCOPAL CIIURGU. 25 



in ante-Nicene days, she was baptizing infants; 
and the absence of any explicit mention of the 
circumstance in Holy Scripture signifies noth- 
ing, unless we are to assume unhistoric ground 
and make Holy Scripture the original and com- 
plete source of all the Church's usages. I 
have said that the Episcopal Church claims to 
stand for the orisfinal of the Christian Relio^- 
ion. That original antedates the New Testa- 
ment Scriptures, and is only described in detail 
therein with reference to matters which had 
come into controversy or were liable to neglect. 

The analogy of Circumcision, for which Bap- 
tism is the Christian correlative, creates a pre- 
sumption in favor of infant Baptism, which can 
only be overcome by the discovery of its posi- 
tive prohibition by God. Certainly no such 
prohibition is found in the New Testament. 
The requirement of faith and repentance be- 
fore the Baptism of adult converts^ — and no 
other such requirement can be proved from 
Holy Scripture — does not bear on the point in 
the slightest degree, for a similar requirement 
of conversion to the Jewish religion was made 
of adult applicants for Circumcision^. So that 

1. Acts 11.38; VII, 36-38. 2. Rom. IV. 10, 11. 



26 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 
J 

the argument which is used to justify an inva- 
riable postponement of Baptism until the years 
of discretion would have been equally available 
to justify a similar postponement of Circum- 
cision. But such postponement was expressly 
forbidden by God\ 

Our position would be better understood- — and 
my whole argument is for the purpose of mak- 
ing our position more clear — if regeneration 
were not so often confounded with conversion. 
They are very different. Conversion is a change 
in our moral aims. Regeneration, which Bap- 
tism achieves, is the inauguration of a new, 
objective, vital and internal relation to Christ's 
Body, and does not necessarily coincide with con- 
version or signify that it has taken place. The 
Apostles naturally required that conversion 
should precede Baptism of adults, lest unbelief 
and unrepented acts of sin should make the re- 
ception of supernatural life both useless and dan- 
gerous. But no such barrier exists in the case 
of infants; and under ideal conditions infant 
Baptism frequently obviates the need of con- 
version by forestalling the growth of an anti- 
Christian disposition. 

1. Gen. XVir. 12. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



27 



In addition to these initiatory rites, God 
instituted in each Covenant the visible manner 
in which and the means by which His chosen 
people were to approach Him with sacrificial 
homage or worship, and enter into Communion 
with Him. In the Mosaic Covenant three 
national Sacrifices were instituted, which were 
so many memorials beforehand, typifying in 
outline what Christ was to achieve in His great 
Sacrifice, consummated once for all on Calvary 
and perpetually offered in the Holy Place made 
without hands. These Sacrifices were ordained 
by God^ They were not actual means of grace, 
nor did they effect what they figured, but were 
none the less signs of what God promised that 
the Messias should fulfil, in due season, for 
those who humbly offered them with faithl 

When Christ was about to suffer and fulfil 
these sacrificial promises so as to become our 
perpetual High Priest and Intercessor, He 
instituted one spiritual and effective rite which 
should occupy the same relative place in the 
dispensation of grace which was occupied by 
them in the Covenant of promise. I mean the 
Holy Eucharist. This rite signifies and 

1. Levit. I-VII, XVI; Heb. IX. 2. Heb. IX. 6-14; X. 1-18. 



28 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



enables its participants to join in tiie offering 
up of that full, perfect and sufficient Sacrifice 
which Christ achieved once for all on Calvary, 
but is offering forever in heaven on our behalf^ 
And it effects what the rites which it displaces 
only figured, for by means of it we truly unite 
under earthly conditions with what Christ is 
doing in heaven, and offer that pure offering 
which Malachi predicted would be offered 
throughout the gentile workP. The Euchar- 
istic bread and wine, as Justin Martyr said in 
the middle of the second century, "we do not 
receive as common bread and common drink, 
. . . but have been taught that the food which 
has been blessed by the prayer of His Word . . . 
is the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Who was made 
Fleshl" Thus we offer up Jesus Clirist Him- 
self, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world but now alive forevermore'^, feeding at 
the same time on the Bread which came down 
from heaven, in accordance with the words of 
Christ, Who said " except ye eat the Flesh of the 
Son of Man and drink His Blood ye have no 
life in youl" Thus the Holy Eucharist is our 

1. Heb. IX. 24-28. 2. Mai. I.ll. 

3. S. Justin M., I. Apol. c. GG. 4. Kom. VI. 9, 10; Rev. XIII. 8. 

5. S. Joliu, VI. 50-58. 



THE EPISCOPAL GHURGTT. 



29 



spiritual Sacrifice, whereby we participate in 
the one Sacrifice of Christ which can never be 
repeated or exhausted. It is not a repetition 
of the transaction of Calvary, but a memorial 
of it^ — the same memorial which Christ is 
making in heaven, where He perpetually offers 
Himself and exhibits those glorious wounds 
which are the enduring evidence of His meri- 
torious passion endured once for alP. Because 
the Holy Eucharist is a memorial and the offer- 
ing up of a real gift — the living and impassible 
Body and Blood of Him who suffered — it is a 
true and proper Sacrifice, although only such 
because Christ is its Offerer and the thing 
offered^. 

The Holy Eucharist is also our greatest Sac- 
rament, by means of which we receive the ben- 
efits of Christ's death and "feed on Him in [our] 
hearts, by faith, with thanksgiving." It is the 
visible centre of Catholic life and unify; the 
Christian shekinah and place of our closest 
access to the Father through Christ ; the ladder 
set up to heaven on earth — ordained as the 
means whereby we may take the f ullest advantage 

1. S. Luke XXTT. 19; I Cor. XI. 24-26; Heb. IX. 24-26. 

2. Rom. VIII. 34; I Tim. II. 5; Heb. Vtl.24, 25; Zech. XIII. 6, 

3. See App. I, 



30 THE HlSTOniGAL POSITION OB' 



of Christ's Mediation and enter through the 
veil of His Flesh into the Holy Placed 

Yes, gentlemen, we claim ours to be the 
original Christian Religion — in fact the 
divinely instituted and divinely perfected relig- 
ion of all the ages gone by; that which Patri- 
archs and Holy Prophets loved; that which 
God in Flesh obeyed, fulfilled and renewed 
with quickening power, but with unaltered and 
unalterable outlines and principles: that for 
which the Martyrs bled and the Fathers 
pleaded: which has persisted with unbroken 
life through every peril which Satan could 
devise; and which now reigns supreme in the 
hearts of countless multitudes of every nation, 
who obey Jesus Christ under one Apostolic 
Ministry, believe one universal Faith, and, in 
every tongue on earth, approach their God in 
one Eucharistic Sacrifice, " with Angels and 
Archangels and with all the Company of heaven 
evermore praising [Him J and saying Holy! 
Holy ! Holy ! Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and 
earth are full of Thy glory. Glory be to Thee 
O Lord most High. Amen." 

1. Heb.X. 19, 20. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 31 



II. 

To pass on to the claim of the Episcopal 
Church to stand for what is permaneni in the 
Chr'istian religion, which has been commiUed io 
the Apostolic Ministry in trust, and ivhich there- 
fore is " incapable of compromise or surrender y 

(a) A great deal lias been said and written 
since our Bishops put forth their declaration 
on Church Unity in 1886, which is based 
upon a serious misinterpretation. This mis- 
interpretation has arisen from isolating our 
terms of Unity from the body of the Declara- 
tion of which they are a part and which ex- 
plains the sense in which they are submitted. 

Thus, one of the most able of our own 
Clergy has persuaded himself and others that 
the phrase " Historic Episcopate " means the 
Episcopate as a historic fact merely, without 
reference to any doctrine whatever concerning 
it; and he urges this interpretation with the 
amiable but vain hope that, if Protestants can 
be persuaded that they are not asked to accept 
the Episcopate as Divinely ordained, or as 
having any necessary authority beyond what 
men concede to it\ they will at once submit 

1. See App. III. 



32 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



and swell the ranks of that prospective Na- 
tional Church which fills his imagination and 
kindles his aspirations. But any one can see 
that no denomination, however respectable, can 
consistently, or without grave presumption, re- 
quire as an ultimate term of Unity anything 
which it is not at the same time convinced is 
of Divine origin and requirement and, for that 
reason, unalterable by man. It is not surpris- 
ing therefore, that many Protestants, misled 
by the interpretation to which I have referred, 
have criticised our attitude severely. 

But an examination of the Bishops' Decla- 
ration itself is sufficient to clear us of the 
charge of inconsistency, whatever may be 
thought of the historical validity of our 
position. 

As I have already stated, the terms in ques- 
tion are but a part of the Declaration on 
Unity. Ju that Declaration it is expressly 
claimed that the terms which are submitted 
are — to quote its own language — " inherent 
parts of a sacred deposit,". . ."the substantial 
deposit of Christian Faith and Order commit- 
ted by Christ and His Apostles to the Church 
unto the end of the world, and therefore in- 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



33 



capable of compromise or surrender by those 
who have been ordained to be its stewards and 
trustees for the common and equal benefit of 
all men^" 

We do not therefore insist upon the Historic 
Episcopate as a venerable institution merely, 
nor because it is the Ministry most likely to be 
accepted by all, however true I shall show that 
to be, nor on any human ground whatever, but 
because Christ instituted it for all time, so 
that our only power in the matter is to exer- 
cise this Ministry for the benefit of the faith- 
ful and to transmit it without fail to succeeding 
ages. We cannot compromise or surrender it 
by entering into any scheme of union which is 
likely to result in its continuance and authority 
being made an open question. 

The subtle distinction between what is es- 
sential to the being of the Church and what is 
essential to its well being is entirely irrelevant. 
We do not cling to the Episcopate on abstract 
but on historic grounds. It is historically of 
Divine origin, and has been committed to us 
as a sacred trust; and, therefore, is incapable 
of compromise or surrender. 

1. General Convention Journal of 1S86, p. 80. 



Si TEE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



Those wlio misunderstand us tliink that we 
are illiberal. We are not. Even if our claim 
is mistaken, it is honest and based upon the 
best historical evidence available. You do not 
consider a trustee liberal who surrenders what 
is committed to his keeping. You rather look 
upon him as dishonourable. You cannot, there- 
fore, consistently ask the Episcopal Church to 
betray the Episcopal Ministry, so long as it 
thinks that that Ministry has been received in 
trust from God to be preserved through all 
generations. What our Declaration on Unity 
urges upon you is, that to secure" Unity we 
must return to the ancient paths, by becoming 
loyal servants of what history shows to be the 
original Christian Keligion; which, with its 
Apostolic Ministry, is God's Eeligion, founded 
for the common benefit of all generations of 
men; also, that our relationship to it is not one 
of ownership, but of disciplesliip and irusiee- 
ship. We urge you, in God's Name, to become 
its disciples also. We do not seek to absorb 
your denominations, but we want you, baptized 
brethren oi the Catholic Church, to recognize 
your own spiritual Mother, and share w^ith us 
in the blessings she imparts to her loyal chil- 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 35 



dren and in her coming glory. We refuse to 
compromise or surrender — not what we own, 
but — what God owns, and has commanded us 
to preserve for you and for all others who may 
be called of God into the Unity of His Holy 
Catholic Church. 

My brethren, we are not worthy of the trust 
which God has given us. The JeiDS were not 
intrusted with the Oracles of God because they 
were worth y^ So we cannot lay claim to any 
peculiar righteousness which fits us to bear 
the vessels of the Lord; but, recognizing that 
we are mere stewards who carry God's mercy 
in earthen vessels^, we call upon you, in God's 
Name, to come to the rescue with your zeal 
and piety, and share in the enjoyment and dis- 
tribution of the blessings which a loving Father 
is asking you as well as ourselves to receive 
and distribute. 

(5) God overrules the weakness of men. 
Through all the ages He has wrought spiritual 
marvels through those who were unworthy of 
the trust and ministry conferred upon them; 
and the Church with which He has thus dealt, 
has shown a power and energy in the midst of 

1. Eom. II. 17— III.9. 2. II Cor. IV. 7. 



36 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



weakness which has often shut the months of 
her enemies. 

Three centuries of persecution but multiplied 
her saints. Court policy and fundamental 
heresy, combined against her, simply enabled 
her to set forth the truths which, were assailed, 
more clearly than ever, and in terms which 
can never become obsolete or cease to rally the 
faithful before the throne of God. Barbarian 
inroads but gave new masses of humanity for 
her to leaven. The Papacy itself gave prestige 
to her missionaries, and papal corruption is 
not to-day what it was in the sixteenth century. 
Twice has the visible Unity of the Catholic 
Church been broken, but the mutually alien- 
ated portions, — the Greek, the Latin and the 
Anglican — have preserved their common heri- 
tage of Faith and Order in spite of many evils. 
In fact, the corruptions of the Eoman Curia 
have been urged as an arijumeDt for the pres- 
ence of superhuman life in the Roman Com- 
munion, since that Communion has survived 
them and appears more vigorous than ever 

But no portion of the Church has given 
proofs of such indestructible vitality as has the 



THE EPISCOPAL OHURGIl. 



37 



Anglican Communion^ The Historic Episco- 
pate has existed in England since the second 
century, without interruption. The original 
British Church, however, was driven into 
Wales by the Anglo-Saxon invaders of the 
fifth and sixth centuries. 

In 597, the work of converting these invad- 
ers commenced under St. Augustine, who was 
sent with forty monks by Pope Gregory I., and 
became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. 
Celtic missionaries from lona aided the Komans 
in converting the northern parts; but, in 664, 
Roman usages were finally adopted, and under. 
Theodore, consecrated by Pope Yitalian in 
668 A. D., the English sees were "filled with 
Bishops who traced their succession from S. 
Peter and his successors in the Roman see. 
The JEcclesia Anglicana, as it came to be called, 
completed its national organization under The- 
odore; and this organization preceded and 
made possible the political unity of England. 

In those days, the Pope was looked up to 
by Anglicans with respect and gratitude; biit, 
while he exercised great influence in England, 
that influence was moral simply. From the 

1. See App. I. 



38 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



time of William the Conqueror, however, claims 
to constitutional supremacy began to be urged. 
These claims were not admitted in theory; 
but, none the less, the papal power had be- 
come practically very excessive in England by 
the time of Henry III., and brought many evils 
in its train. Yet this supremacy was at no 
time legally or canonically acknowledged in 
England, but from time to time protested 
against as a usurpation. The ground taken 
then and at all times has been that which gov- 
erned certain decisions of the First General 
Council of Nicea, 325 A. D., which places the 
local government of every geographical portion 
of the Universal Church under its own Bishops 
and the nearest Metropolitans. Statute after 
statute was passed against papal usurpation, 
but without permanent effect until the time of 
Heniiy YIII. Henry was a despot, whose 
enormities are known to all. Yet God oA^er- 
ruled his iniquities and tyranny to the good of 
the English Church — i. e., to the restoration of 
the ancient self-government of the Ecclesia 
Anglicana. 

In abolishing the papal supremacy, Henry 
endeavoured to secure for himself an ecclesias- 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



39 



tical supremacy equally absolute. But the 
Clergy refused — and they alone of Henry's 
subjects had the boldness to withstand his 
will — refused, I say, to acknowledge his su- 
premacy until he consented to the words " So 
far as the law of Christ doth allow," and 
explained that no invasion of spiritual rights 
was contemplated, but merely a re-assertion of 
the ancient constitutional principle that the 
king is king of ecclesiastical persons as well as 
of secular ones\ In accordance with this in- 
dependent attitude (too often misrepresented 
by popular writers), the ancient Ecclesia 
Anglicana, which antedates the very Kingdom 
of England itself, and to which that kingdom is 
indebted for its constitution and Magna Charta, 
began the work of reforming itself. No break 
of ecclesiastical continuity occurred; and, when 
Convocation declared, in 1534-, that the Bishop 
of Rome hath not, according to the Scriptures, 
any greater jurisdiction in this realm, of England 
by Divine right, than any other foreign Bishop, 
it simply fell back upon the opening sentence 
of Magna Charta, which declared that the 
Ecclesia Anglicana should be forever free ; and 

1. Dixon's Hist. Eng. Church; Vol. I. 57-68. 



40 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



upon the ancient right of Bishops of the Cath- 
olic Church to govern within their own geo- 
graphical jurisdictions on behalf of the universal 
Episcopate. Many ancient title deeds and 
statutes show the falsity of Macaulay's asser- 
tion that Henry YIII. founded the English 
Church. He merely delivered it from a usurped 
foreign tyranny. 

Under Edward's regency, the Church's Synod 
was largely ignored, and consequently the 
more radical legislation of that reign concern- 
ing ecclesiastical matters was unconstitutional, 
and never came to life again after Mary's 
accession rendered it ineffective. Under Eliza- 
beth the Reformation was renewed. She was 
despotic, but the Church acted through her 
own Synods. The Episcopate was perpetuated 
through Archbishop Parker, the validity of 
whose consecration has been acknowledged by 
the Roman historian Lingard, by the Romish 
Sorbonne of Paris, and by many eminent Roman 
theologians. The Prayer Book and Thirty- 
Nine Articles were put forth. These Articles 
were eireuical; and, for the sake of peace, 
adopted the forms of expressioD most likely to 
gain acceptance among the members of the Pu- 



THE EPISCOPAL ORUPGH. 



41 



ritan faction already appearing. But Calvinism 
was carefully expurgated from tlie phrases em- 
ployed. No other proof of this should be 
needed than the subsequent course of events. 
The Calvinists became more and more discon- 
tented ; and, after failing in an attempt to secure 
an adoption of the Lambeth Articles, in 1595, 
drifted into non-conformity and dissent. On 
the other hand, those who remained attached to 
the Elizabethan settlement and were influenced 
by its atmosphere developed during the next 
generation into the Catholic School of Andrewes 
and Laud. 

Meanwhile the Church came between two 
fires — the State and the Puritans. An unfor- 
tunate association of her interests with those 
of a tyrannical government — an association 
which came about by the personal and passing 
political mistakes of those in power, and was 
not a part of her official and doctrinal position 
at all — obscured her spiritual position, alien- 
ated the people to a great extent, and strength- 
ened the hands of dissent. She was persecuted 
and driven into hiding places. Her services 
were proscribed and her Clergy were deprived 
of their means of subsistence and imprisoned 



43 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



in plague-breeding hulks. The reaction came 
and brought its own evils — licentiousness and 
flippancy in high quarters. Dissent was natu- 
rally but barely allowed to exist, for the idea of 
physical toleration was not understood by any 
party as yet. In spite of all, however, the 
Church made rapid headway and had practi- 
cally become the Church of nineteen-twentietlis 
of the people by the time of James II., when 
seven of her Bishops immortalized themselves 
by resisting openly the popish manoeuvres of 
that monarch. The revolution came, and 
William's reign fostered the development of 
rationalism — especially among the Bishops. 
He cared nothing for the Church's ancient 
position, and, without appreciating the real 
loyalty of the Non-jurors and the purely tech- 
nical nature of their scruple as to taking the 
oath of renunciation of James II., deprived the 
Church of Englaiid at a blow of the very flower 
of her Ministry. The upper house of Convocation 
degenerated rapidly, therefore, and before the 
opening of the eighteenth century the two 
houses of that body were at war with each 
other. The Church's Synod was finally sus-. 
pended by royal authority, in 1717, and not 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 43 



allowed to meet again for the dispatch of busi- 
ness until 1852. The Church's enemies seemed 
to triumph, but the very completeness of their 
victory was God's means of preserving her 
ancient heritage and formularies amid the 
dreary chaos of Deism, high and dry — intensely 
dry — Churchism, and non-sacramental low 
Churchism of the eighteenth century. No 
Convocation meant an unchanged Prayer Book, 
and Providence blinded the Church's enemies 
so that they did not complete their work by 
reviving and using the proper legal instrument 
for depraving her formularies. 

The Sacraments fell into disuse under the 
cold indifference of a semi-deistic and erastian 
Episcopate; so that, when the inextinguishable 
life of the Church revived from below, it first 
exhibited itself on the non-sacramental, one- 
sided and emotional lines of the Evangelical 
Movement. The Wesleyan Movement — not 
formally schismatic during Wesley's life- time 
— maintained the regular use of the Sacra- 
ments, but broke away finally and lost its sac- 
ramental character when it lost the Episcopal 
Ministry. 



44 THE EISTORIGAL POSITION OF 



. But Evangelical zeal could not support itself 
without the foundations of Historic Christianity. 
Those foundations were still preserved and 
officially maintained in the Book of Common 
Prayer. Accordingly, when threats of dises- 
tablishment led to a closer examination of the 
Church's spiritual position, the Catholic move- 
ment of this century began in 1833; — a move- 
ment which no man has been able to check or 
control ; which has affected the entire Anglican 
Communion; which has survived discourage- 
ments of dignitaries, consequent impatient and 
illogical movements Romeward, widespread pan- 
ics resulting therefrom, hostile decisions of 
state-controlled courts, open persecution and the 
imprisonment of some of its leaders; and which 
now confronts the Christian world with the 
Book of Common Prayer in hand as its evidence 
that the Anglican Communion stands to-day as 
ever for the original of the Christian Religion 
— reformed of its mediaeval accretions, indeed, 
but ever the same and " incapable of compro- 
mise or surrender." 

It is a marvellous history, — in which our 
American body shares. For one hundred and 
fifty years our only Bishop resided in London, 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



45 



and even our ordinations took place three 
thousand miles across the sea. We finally 
secured an American Episcopate, but our local 
organization was attended with great peril. We 
were surrounded with hostile dissent, which 
enormously outnumbered us, and suspected of 
political disloyalty. The prevalent Deism had 
leavened the minds of some of our leading 
Clergy and rendered them careless as to funda- 
mental verities. Yet no doctrinal changes in 
our formularies occurred. The Anglican Book 
of Common Prayer was adopted, with verbal 
revision, and a declaration inserted that "this 
Church is far from intending to depart from 
the Church of England in any essential point 
of doctrine, discipline, or worship ; or further 
than local circumstances require." Somewhat 
timid at first, our Clergy and laity gathered 
courage as time went by, and discovered that 
their success in winning souls was in propor- 
tion to their definite assertion of the Church's 
historic position and clear proclamation of the 
truths which they had received. Since the 
Catholic revival has brought into clearer light 
the priceless treasures embodied in our Prayer 
Book, the Episcopal Church has exercised an 



46 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



influence grotesquely out of proportion to her 
size, our opponents being judges. 

Permit me to quote certain notable words, 
written over fifty years ago, which epitomize 
the post-reformation part of the history I have 
given. "If there ever were a Church on which 
the experiment has been tried^ whether it had 
life or not, the English is that one .... It 
has endured in trouble and prosperity, under 
seduction and under oppression. It has been 
practised upon by theorists, brow-beaten by 
sophists, intimidated by princes, betrayed by 
false sons, laid waste by tyranny, corrupted by 
wealth, torn by schism and persecuted by fanat- 
icism. Revolutions have come upon it sharply 
and suddenly, to and fro, hot and cold, as if to 
try what it was made of. It has been a sort of 
battlefield on which opposite principles have 
been tried. No opinion, however extreme, but 
may be found, as the Romanists are not slow 
to reproach us, among its Bishops and Divines. 
Yet what has been its career on the whole? . . 
Lutherans have tended to Rationalism; Cal- 
vinists have become Socinians; but what has 
it become? As far as its formularies are con- 
cerned, it may be said all along to have grown 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



47 



towards a more perfect Catholicism than that 
with which it started at the time of its estrange- 
ment .... In our own times temporal defences 
have been removed which the most strenuous 
political partisans of the Ohurch considered 
essential to its well being, and the loss of which 
they deplored as the first steps towards its 
ruin. To their surprise .... they beheld 
what they thought a mere establishment, de- 
pendent on man to create and destroy, rise up 
and walk with a life of its own, such as it had 
before they and their constitution came into 
being\" 

It is such a history that makes us so sure 
that the Episcopal Church stands for what is 
permanent in Christianity and incapable of 
compromise or surrender even by those of her 
Ministers who would undertake such treachery. 

I am trying your patience, I know; but our 
points of view differ too widely for me to ex- 
plain our position briefly, and I must clear up 
a few misconceptions before explaining the 
claim of the Episcopal Church to stand for the 
only possible basis of Church Unity. 

1. British Critic of Jan. 1840, p. 77. 



48 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



(a) It is said that the Episcopal claims can- 
not be proved by Biblical texts. Such au 
objection can only be urged by one who has 
failed to perceive the real nature of the Cath- 
olic position assumed by us; which is, as it has 
been the design of my paper to show, that of 
allegiance to a religion which we are convinced 
is more ancient than Holy Scripture, and 
which determines the point of view from which 
the different portions of the Bible were written. 
The Bible, therefore, is filled to bursting with 
this religion from end to end ; but was written 
for the edification of those who already adhered 
to it rather than to explain its details to con- 
verts or to furnish an arsenal of proofs. We 
are not concerned, therefore, with chapter and 
verse — although by no means helpless in that 
direction — so much as with the uninterrupted 
pertinency of the entire Scriptures. Our 
Biblical proof is, we think, overwhelming; 
but it consists chiefiy in this, that when the 
reader once acquires our point of view, many 
Biblical treasures are unlocked of which the 
dissenting world appears to have no inkling; 
and the connected harmony of the Sacred 
Volume as a whole flashes upon the mind in 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



49 



dazzling splendour. If I can induce a man to 
read the Bible through devoutly and honestly, 
after masteringHhe Catholic standpoint, I have 
no fears as to the result. The Bible never 
turned a properly trained Catholic into a Sec- 
tarian. 

(6) Again, it may be objected that many 
eminent Episcopalians will not assent to the 
position which has been here set forth. That 
is true, and I acknowledge the fact that there 
are various schools of thought among Episco- 
palians which set forth opposing opinions. But 
true and lamentable as it is, it is entirely irrel- 
evant. I did not come here, my brethren, to 
represent the prevalent opinions of individuals, 
however eminent, or of schools, however exten- 
sive. I am exhibiting to the best of my ability 
what the Church stands for, which tolerates 
these schools without sanctioning them. I find 
this in her formularies and obligatory in- 
stitutions — embodied in the Book of Common 
Prayer. Let me illustrate : Should any Priest 
deny the Apostolic Succession, he may learn 
from the preface of the services for ordination, 

1. I do not mean after accepting it, but after being able to assume 
it correctly for the purpose of argument. 



50 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



that, even though the Church may refrain from 
disciplining him, she does not sanction his 
opinion. Does he deny the supernatural efficacy 
of priestly ministrations, let him remember 
that, when the Bishop made him Priest, he did 
so with the words, "Whose sins thou dost for- 
give, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou 
dost retain, they are retained." Bishop Cheney 
discovered that the Church will not even tol- 
erate a denial of infant regeneration by means 
of Baptism, when such denial leads to a muti- 
lation of the Baptismal Service. Finally, if a 
Priest does not believe that the consecrated 
Eucharistic Elements are the Body and Blood 
of Christ, he must none the less teach his can- 
didates for Confirmation a Catechism which 
says that the inward part of the Sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper is " The Body and Blood of 
Christ," and must administer the consecrated 
bread and wine with the words, "The Body of 
our Lord Jesus Christ," .... " The Blood of 
our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. 

I have tried to show historically that passing 
waves of opinion and of imperfect loyalty to the 
Church's ancient position, have not, in fact, 
alte^'ed that position. They cannot do so; and 



THE EPISCOPAL GHURCR. 



51 



it is because of this security — a security which 
rests upon Christ's promise and presence — that 
she can tolerate imperfect opinions with safety, 
and can refuse to quench a smoking tlax by ex- 
cluding an imperfect believer, until forced to do 
so by direct repudiation of her formularies, or 
mutilation of the rites in which her mind is 
exhibited. No man-made society can thus 
tolerate permanently within its midst what it 
cannot sanction, without going to pieces; but 
the Episcopal Church has done so for ages, and 
has not yet gone to pieces. 

(c) What I have said should remove 
another misapprehension concerning the Epis- 
copal Church. It is objected that Episcopalians 
do not, as a rule, live religiously or exhibit the 
fruits of the Spirit; and it is added, " By their 
fruits ye shall know them." I am not going to 
deny the many imperfections of the average 
Churchman. I am but too well aware of them 
and of my own. And I am ready to admit that 
if you measure .us individuals of average level 
by our fruits, we shall suffer severe judgment. 
But here again there is a misconception of what 
we claim to stand for. Let me explain. 



52 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



Neither the Jewish nor the Christian dispen- 
sation constituted the Church to be an organi- 
zation of the righteous who need no salvation, 
but rather to be the place in which and the 
means by which to save sinners. It is Christ 
Who likens His Kingdom to a drag-net which 
gathers in fish of every kind, and retains them, 
if possible, until the day of judgment. It is be- 
cause we are so sinful and in need of sanctifi- 
cation that the Church gathers us in and 
retains us, that she may gradually leaven our 
corrupt hearts and minds, and save us. She dis- 
ciplines us with tender love, but does not ex- 
clude us; since to do so is to deprive those 
whom God died to save of the means by which 
He ordains that His saving grace shall be ap- 
plied to them. This saving work is life-long. 
There may be fall after fall, but even though 
repentance has to be repeated seventy times 
seven, Jesus Christ is ready in his Church 
to forgive and heal. For the Church to 
drive out the unspiritual would be for her 
to abandon her work of saving the world. 
Therefore, what you see of our imperfec- 
tions, while it proves that we are not yet 
made perfect, also shows that the Church to 



THE EPISCOPAL GHURCH. 



53 



which we belong is a Catholic Church, ordained 
by Him Who came to seek and save that which 
was lost, and who refrained from excommuni- 
cating even when His disciple denied Him. 

This Church is Holy — not because of its 
earthly membership, but because Jesus is its 
Head, the Holy Ghost is its animating spirit, and 
sanctification of souls is the ultimate result of 
its work. 

(c?) Again, it is said that our position is 
sacerdotalism pure and simple, and infringes 
upon the prerogatives of the only Mediator 
between God and Man\ And it is frequently 
added, if we were consistent we would submit 
to the Pope. Well, at the risk of being 
thought a disciple of anti-Christ, I must ac- 
knowledge that our position does mean sacer- 
dotalism, pure and simple — although it does 
not involve the consequences which Protestants 
suppose. Sacerdotalism, properly understood, 
means a conviction that Christ exercises His 
Priesthood, which the Epistle to the Hebrews 
emphasizes so strongly, through a Ministry of 
His own appointment and empowering. We 
Priests are Priests because we are Christ's 

1. I. Tim. II. 5. 



54 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



iDstruments iu performing on earth wliat He 
performs in glory above. AYe do not displace 
Him, but He uses us as His Ministers. The 
powers which we wield are official ones — not 
personal. We are nothing save by His ap- 
pointment and presence. This Nation recently 
offered to mediate between China and Japan, 
but the offer was officially and effectively com- 
municated through our Secretary of State. It 
would have been absurd on that account to 
interpret Judge Gresham's act as putting his 
own person between the United States and the 
Eastern Nations. It is the same with sacer- 
dotalism. We are called Priests as the Minis- 
ters of the Great High Priest. Our ministry is 
with power, but with ministerial power simply. 
The only personal power which can come be- 
tween the soul and God in the Catholic Church 
is that of Jesus Christ^ 

As to submitting to the Pope, it w^ould be 
logical, if logic required that in order to em- 
brace a religious system consistently, one 
should also embrace every caricature of it and 
accretion to it which human craft may have 
invented. We look more like Romanists than 

1. See App. IV. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



55 



Protestants, I admit; but would any one think 
that, because a cleansed portrait resembled a 
spattered one more than one which had been 
torn to shreds, it should therefore be spattered 
again as soon as possible! No, we hope that 
the spattered portrait will be cleaned, and that 
the one which has been torn will be reproduced 
from the original negatiye. 

(^e) Again, it is said that times change and 
the Catholic System is out of date. Christianity 
must adapt itself to new conditions. We can 
only reply that the Catholic System is Catholic 
because it has the capacity of adaptation to 
the most diverse conditions. Christ ordained 
the Church and her Ministry for all time, 
which he would not have done without per- 
ception beforehand of its Catholic elasticity. 
Moreover, since the Church is God's and not 
man's, it may not be modified in its original 
constitution save on Divine authority — an 
authority to which we lay no manner of claim. 



III. 

After all that I have said I need not detain 
you long in explaining why we claim our posi- 



56 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



tion to be ihe only possible basis of Church 
Unity. 

That Church Unity must be attained if pos- 
sible, cannot be doubted by any habitual and 
devout reader of Holy Scripture. Schism is 
there condemned in unsparing terms. In Old 
Testament days, for example, no amount of 
falling away in the Jewish Church was held 
to justify schism from it; and the same mes- 
sages which in the New Testament denounce 
certain Churches for the wickedness prevailing 
in them speak with equally harsh terms of 
those who would create divisions in them^ 
Let me speak frankly. We think that the 
founders of modern Protestant sects did a 
huge wrong in fact, although we acquit them 
of malice prepense. It was their sad mistake, 
as I am sure they now recognize and deplore. 

(rt) There must be reunion; but the Unity 
which we pught to seek is a visible conformity 
of all Christians to that organism which Christ 
established, along with a healing of its internal 
dissensions. And this is our first reason for 
saying that the Episcopal Church stands for 
the only possible basis of Church Unity — be- 

1. Hammond's Christian Church, What is It? 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 57 

cause we are convinced that it stands for what 
Christ designed should be the permanent 
organization of His Church. Holy Scripture 
nowhere gives the slightest hint of Churches 
in the modern sense — i. e., of Christian organ- 
isms differing in kind from each other and 
taking the place of each other in tlie same 
localities. The New Testament Churches are 
local apportionments of jurisdiction in one 
Universal Church, in which the same features 
of visible organization and sacramental life are 
repeated. When S. Paul spoke of " all the 
Churches" he did not have "denominations" 
in mind, but local congregations, obeying one 
Ministry, one Faith and one Sacramental Sys- 
tem. 

Gentlemen, we find it hard to understand or 
bear with each other on this subject. We are 
thought to unchurch the Protestant denomina- 
tions. But it is a mistake to think so. Only 
God could unchurch anything, which once was 
a Church. We are indeed convinced that the 
Protestant denominations about us are not, as 
such, genuine Churches of the New Testament 
pattern — i. e., organic parts of the Church of 
Christ, having its constitution and entitled to 



58 



THE HISTORICAL POSITIOX OF 



the allegiance of its members. It is true, that 
we rather look upon them as mere human soci- 
eties, differing ^?^ ki^id from anything which 
Christ planted, whose very existence is a sad 
mistake, since they withdraw the members of 
Christ from their allegiance to His Ministry 
and Sacraments. This is our conviction con- 
cerning the existing situation, but we neither 
caused the situation, nor do we rejoice in it. 
We cannot unchurch anything, but we have 
convictions as to what the Church is, in which 
Christ wills that men should serve under 
Him, and feel it our duty to proclaim what we 
« are sure has been committed to us to proclaim. 
If we cannot agree in this, and if our disagree- 
ment affects our mutual relations and prevents 
us from having ecclesiastical fellowship with 
you, let us strive at least to refrain from mutual 
misapprehensions and to be convinced of each 
other's charity and lionest desire to promote 
the welfare of mankind. Meanwhile, " The 
truth is mighty and will prevail." God speed 
the day, not of sacrificing religious convic- 
tions for the sake of deceptive externals of 
charity, but of such clear knowledge of the 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



59 



truth by all loyal souls that charity will pre- 
vail because truth prevails. 

(5) Another reason why the Episcopal 
Church claims to stand for the only possible 
basis of Church Unity is the fact that its Min- 
istry and Sacraments did, as history shows, 
hold the Catholic Church together for many 
centuries, and that each departure from it has 
been the cause of schism. 

Thus, the attempt of the Bishop of Rome to 
upset the Divinely ordained and constitutional 
equality of all Bishops in their respective 
jurisdictions, by the claim to rule in Christ's 
stead by Divine right over the Avhole Church 
Militant, caused a rupture of Communion be- 
tween the East and West in the eleventh 
century, and between the Roman obedience 
and the Anglican Communion in the sixteenth 
century. The Eastern and Anglican Commun- 
ions are now drawing towards each other in 
proportion to their greater familiarity with 
each other's" adherence to the ancient paths; 
but we cannot, even for the sake of an appear- 
ance of Unity, sacrifice the Divinely ordained 
organization of Christ's Church. If Rome 
should reform herself, modify her attitude, and 



60 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



permit the Apostolic Ministry to exercise its 
proper functions without interference, it might 
be, perhaps, that the Unity of the Church 
would be made more visible to the world by 
yielding to some one see — naturally to Rome — 
a precedency of honour among equals, a sort 
of convenient and limited presidency in matters 
subject to human control, such as was allowed 
in ancient days. If such a thing could be 
done without peril to religion and with increase 
of charity, no Churchman should desire to 
prevent it. 

Again, the revolt from the historic Ministry 
and Sacraments, which occurred in the sixteenth 
century, has split Western Christendom into 
hundreds of fragments, and has greatly in- 
creased the causes of alienation which must be 
removed before all Christians can be in Com- 
munion and visible charity with each other. 

These facts are indisputable and their sig- 
nificance appears plain to us — i. e., that there 
is only one Ministry and Sacramental System, 
the loyal adherence to which has over kept the 
Church of Christ in visible Unity. Our plea 
is, "Why try experiments?" Church Unity 
must be worked for ; let us then make use of 



THE EPISCOPAL GHURCH. 



Gl 



the means which, as a matter of fact, has dem- 
onstrated its fitness for the use to which we 
would put it. 

(c) Nor is this all of the matter. We are 
bound to consider, before adopting any plan for 
the restoration of visible unity, whether it is 
such as is likely to secure general co-operation. 
As some of our Bishops have been careful to 
point out, the only Church Unity with which 
we have a right to content ourselves must be 
world-wide. The entire Catholic world must 
be united before the dying prayer of Christ 
that His disciples might be one, can be 
answered. 

Unless we refuse to Catholics generally the 
name Christian — which of course, we Episco- 
palians cannot do without changing convictions 
which lie at the root of our religious life — it is 
clear that over three-fourths of the entire Chris- 
tian world must surrender convictions as well 
as preferences before any basis of unity will be 
available, other than what has been named by 
our Bishops, and for which the Episcopal 
Church has stood since a time which antedates 
the existence of Protestant denominations by 
many ages. 



62 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



Is it not natural that we should appeal to 
history, under such circumstances, and say 
that, so far from the maintenance of the His- 
toric Episcopate and Catholic Religion being 
a barrier to Unity, it is the modern rejection 
of it which must be repaired before any Unity 
is possible which God will bless ? 

I have but little more to say. I have done 
my best to enable you to understand us. I 
have not concealed anything for the sake of 
appearance of an agreement which does not 
exist; but, at the same time, have tried to put 
you in a position to see that our inability to 
co-operate in religious matters wdth you is not 
caused by bitterness of spirit, but by the con- 
viction that we have received our religious 
system from God, for sure maintenance and 
propagation among all men; and that we can- 
not, without a breach of trust for which God 
will hold us to strict account, even seem to 
acknowledge any substi^te as lawful, however 
sure we may feel that its adherents are sincere 
in their mistake and for that reason blameless. 
We do not judge Protestants. We give them 
credit for good faith. But we believe that it 
makes a vast difference to mankind whether 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



63 



the Catholic Religion prevails or not. That 
it will prevail we have no manner of doubt. 
Thus we rest our case. 

The securing of Church Unity seems, for the 
present at least, beyond human power. Yet we 
cannot believe that Christ's prayer is to remain 
unanswered to the end. What man cannot 
achieve, God can bring to pass. Ah! my 
brothers, let us trust in Him and be patient. 
All human things pass away. God alone and 
His Religion is immutable. Believers may 
have to endure persecution yet; and persecu- 
tion, when overruled by God, is able to purify 
what is corrupt, and make age-long misconcep- 
tions and alienations disappear. We might 
welcome such a persecution, and in the power 
of united zeal and grace take the gates of 
heaven by storm. 

O Lord Jesus Christ Who saidst unto Thy 
DISCIPLES, Peace I leave with you. My peace 

I GIVE UNTO you; REGARD NOT OUR SINS, BUT 

THE Faith of Thy Church; and grant her 

THAT PEACE AND UnITY WHICH IS AGREEABLE TO 

Thy will. Who livest and reignest God, 

FOREVER AND EVER. AmEN. 



64 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



APPENDIX 1. 

I give a brief list of suitable works for the 
benefit of those who wish to study the sub- 
jects treated of in this paper. 

THE CHURCH. 

Hammond's Christian Church, What is It? Oxford, 
1894; 65 cents. 
Gore's Mission of the Church; $1.00. 
Palmer on the Church of Christ; 2 vols. London, 1839. 

THE MINISTRY. 

Lightfoot on the Christian Ministry. (In the " Disser- 
tations on the Apostolic Age," with appendix.) London, 
1893. Pub. separately, New York; 70 cents. 

Haddan's Apostolical Succession in the Church of 
England. London, 1883. 

Gore's Ministry of the Christian Church. New York, 
1889; $3.00. 

THE SACRAMENTS. 

Sadler's Church Doctrine Bible Truth. New York, 
1882; 50 cents. 

Sadler's Second Adam and the New Birth. New York, 
1869; 11.25. 

Sadler's One Offering. London, 1889; 75 cents. 
Prynne's Truth and Reality of the Eucharistic Sacri- 
fice. Longmans, 1894; $1.25. 
Wilberforce's Holy Eucharist. New York, 1885; $2.50. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



65 



HISTOEICAL. 

Lane's Illustrated Kotes on English Cliurch History. 
New York, 1887; 2 vols., 40 cents per vol. 

Hore's History of the Church of England. New York, 
1893. 

Aubrey Moore's History of the Reformation. London, 
1890. 

Blunt's Histor}'^ of the English Reformation. 
Wilberforce's History of the American Church. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Ewer's Catholicity, Protestantism and Romanism. New 
York; $1.50. 

Ewer's Failure of Protestantism. New York, 1869. 

Hammond's Church or Chapel; An Eirenicon. London. 

Hammond's English Nonconformity and Christ's Chris- 
tianity. London. 

Little's Reasons for Being a Churchman. Milwaukee^ 
1885; $1.10. 

Forbes on The Thirty-Nine Articles. Oxford, 1881; 
$3.00. 

Hall's Theological Outlines. Milwaukee; see adv. 
Staley's Catholic Religion. Oxford, 1894; 30 cents up. 
Westcott's Bible in the Church. London and New 
York; $1.25. 

Tlie above works can be secured tlirough 
The Young Churchman Company, Milwaukee, 
Wis. 



66 



THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



APPENDIX 11. 

Churclimen need not be disturbed by the 
results of Biblical criticism, however unex- 
pected, for the strength of their belief in the 
supernatural and plenary inspiration of the 
Bible depends — not upon the dates or author- 
ships of its several portions, but — upon the 
general trustworthiness of the religious his- 
tory which the Scriptures contain, and the 
success with which they can be employed to 
irradiate and confirm the doctrines, institu- 
tions and practical principles of the religion 
historically established and perpetuated in the 
world by God. 

APPENDIX III. 

It may be urged that the question at issue 
is — not what view of the Episcopate this 
Church stands for, but — whether she will, for 
the sake of Unity, tolerate other and less 
advanced views on the part of those who agree 
to yield obedience to the Episcopate, in fact. 
The proper answer to this question is clear. 
The Church does, as we shall show later on, 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



67 



tolerate views which she regards as imperfect, 
when an exercise of discipline would quench a 
smoking flax and do more harm than good. 
But there is an important limitation to this. 
She cannot sanction error; and, therefore, 
whatever she may overlook in dealing with 
individual cases, she cannot permit error offi- 
cially, or recognize that it is lawful for any 
one, especially for one who seeks entrance to 
her Ministry, to hold views inconsistent with 
her own teaching. The Church teaches that 
her Ministry is Divinely instituted and pos- 
sesses exclusive mission. She cannot rightly, 
therefore, enter into any concordat which leaves 
the parties who accept it free to enter her 
Ministry without accepting this, her teaching. 
Nor can she rightly acquiesce in any form of 
toleration of error on a scale so extensive as 
to imperil the ofl&cial maintenance of her mind 
on the questions at issue. 

APPENDIX lY. 

It is said that Sacerdotalism is not contained 
in the New Testament, and that Christian Min- 
isters are nowhere called Priests in the Bible. 
"We hold, on the contrary, that the New Testa- 



68 THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF 



ment is full of Sacerdotalism, and that the ab- 
sence of the title Priest, as applied to Christian 
Ministers, can be accounted for without taking 
non-sacerdotal ground. 

The Jewish and Christian dispensations over- 
lapped each other by Divine arrangement, 
apparently in order that the unalterable prin- 
ciples of the Old dispensation might be assim- 
ilated by the primitive disciples of the New, 
and successfully transplanted to the Christian 
Church. The Christian Church was conceived 
in the womb of Judaism. The New Testament 
is the product chiefly of the period of over- 
lapping, when the Jewish Christians were 
obliged to obey both dispensations at once; and 
^ we read that " a great company of the [Jewish] 
Priests were obedient to the Faith" (Acts, YI. 
7). To have applied the title Priest to Chris- 
tian Ministers under such conditions would 
have been confusing in the extreme. But that 
the Christian dispensation was to be a sacer- 
dotal one is clearly implied in vdiat S. Peter 
says (I. Pet. II. 9), "But ye are a chosen 
generation, a royal priesthood," etc., and in 
what the epistle to the Hebrews (XIII. 10) 
says, " We have an altar," etc. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



69 



We liave beeD insisting that the Christian 
dispensation is laot the result of a revolt from 
Judaism (if it were, the permanent nature of 
the promises to Abraham and to Jerusalem 
would be destroyed and the Divine immutabil- 
ity intrenched upon), but an effective perform- 
ance and continual application to the souls of 
men of what Judaism merely prefigured. This 
contention involves that the Sacerdotalism,- 
which is so essential a part of the Old dispen- 
sation, should not be abolished in the Christian 
dispensation, but should be made more effective, 
and modified in detail merely, to meet the con- 
ditions resulting from the death of Christ and 
His entrance within the veil. 

When the time drew near for completing the 
transition from the Old to the New, by the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, the author of the epistle 
to the Hebrews was inspired to give a clear ex- 
position of the eternal Priesthood of Christ, 
ordained of God (Chap. V.) to take the place 
of the merely typical priesthood of Aaron 
(Chap. YIII). Thus the New Covenant was 
clearly shown to be sacerdotal, and, by reason 
of its effectiveness, fitted to take the place of 
what was ineffective and preparatory merely. 



70 THE III8T0BICAL POSITIOK OF 



The new Sacerdotalism is effective because it is 
the Sacerdotalism of Christ, Who has over- 
come death, and entered the true Holy of 
Holies. 

Now, and this is a crisis in our argument, 
whatever Christ was sent forth to be in the 
world, that He sent forth His Apostolic Ministry 
to perpetuate on earth in His Name. " All 
power is given unto Me in heaven and in 
earth" (S. Matt. XXVIIL 18). " And behold, 
I send the promise of My father upon you: but 
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be 
endued with power from on high" (S. Luke 
XXIV. 49). "As My Father hath sent Me 
(cf. Heb. V. 4-6) even so send I you. And 
when He had said this, He breathed on them, 
and saith unto them. Receive ye the Holy 
Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re- 
mitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye re- 
tain, they are retained" (S. John XX. 21-23). 

In view of all this, we believe that the thing 
signified by the term Priest is an essential 
part of the Christian dispensation as portrayed 
in the New Testament: that Christian Minis- 
ters on earth are Priests by participation in 
Christ's Priesthood: that their priesthood is 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



71 



not personally iuhereot in themselves, but min- 
isterial simply — i. e., Christ's Priesthood, exer- 
cised by a Ministry of His own appointment: 
that they have power (although official and not 
personal) to remit sins — a sacerdotal power. 

The overlapping of dispensations made it 
necessary for a time to use distinct names; but 
when Judaism passed away, the sacerdotal 
character of the Christian Ministry stood out in 
bold relief, and the title Priest, as applied to the 
offerer of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, came into 
inevitable use. 



a' 

BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

Theological Outloes. 



A Series of concise and accurate Theological Propo- 
sitions, covering the whole field of Dogmatic Theology, 
from the Anglo-Catholic point of view, with abundant 
references under each head. 

Vol. I. — The Doctrine of God. 50 cents net. 

Vol. II. — The Doctrine of Man and of the God-man. 
75 cents net. 

Vol. III. — The Doctrine of the Church and of Last 
Things, will appear in May, 1895. 

The Trinity (N. Y.) Record says of Vol. II, that under 
its heads " is arranged a singularly compact, clear and 
strong instruction in Positive Dogmatics, soundly Cath- 
olic, and supported at every point by a highly useful 
array of authorities, Scriptural and other. The far- 
reaching brevity of this book would make it a very val- 
uable manual for laymen, and we are compelled to add, 
for some of the clergy also. The style is luminous." 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., 
Milwaukee, Wis. 



